Members of The Church
Notes
Transcript
For the body is not one member, but many.
There are many parts to the human body
Gallbladder - A&E
general practitioner - doctor who knows some about the whole body
Referred to a specialist when the scans confirmed the suspicions of the doctor
The body is one, but many members
Uniqueness of the Body
Uniqueness of the Body
Diversity of its members
1 Cor 12:15
If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?
Big toe - I’m only a big toe, and I’m stuck in a sweaty, smelly sock and shoe all day. It’s hot and unpleasant.
I want to be the hand! After all look at what the pianist can do with her fingers, or the artist can do his hands!
A hand! It has eight wrist bones, five bones in the palm, fourteen in the digits. The two hands together command a quarter of all the bones in the body. Each hand has thousands of nerve endings per square inch, with the heaviest concentration in the fingertips. Two of the largest spaces in the motor cortex of the brain are concerned with the hands. The hands are rarely still. The finger joints alone are extended and flexed some 25 million times during a lifetime. Yet the hands rarely get tired. A hand is far more complicated and sophisticated than any machine. The hands can compensate for the loss of eyesight by reading Braille and for the loss of the ability to hear and speak by means of sign language. The hands can tell the texture of the soil or the weave of a fabric. A hand can even distinguish between the various coins in one’s pockets. And each of its fingerprints is unique.
The foot may well be envious of the hand, but it isn’t. It’s got more sense! For the foot to so envy the hand as to deny that because it is not a hand it doesn’t belong to the body is nonsense. Of course it belongs, and a useful member it is. It is a marvel of engineering with its 26 bones, 107 ligaments, and 19 muscles. It can balance upright a 6 foot, 200-pound man. When walking, even at a moderate pace, each foot takes a pounding—with a 200-pound man each foot receives a 200-pound jolt each minute. It’s far worse when the man runs or jumps or jogs. The average man walks something like 65,000 miles in a lifetime.
The body is very thankful for its feet, humble members though they may be. A body without feet would be a hopelessly crippled body, greatly handicapped in the accomplishment of its goals.
1 Cor 12:16
And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?
The ear - I’m oddly shaped, and stick it for everyone to see. I get covered because of my ugliness!
I want to be the eye! It’s window of the soul with it’s luminescent character relaying the thoughts and intentions of the heart and mind. It’s colour and brilliance are what I want.
An eye! It has a dime-size cornea to bend light rays into orderly patterns and a pupil to control the amount of light coming into the eye. It has a small lens surrounded by tiny but extremely strong muscles. It has a retina which, although covering less than a square inch, contains 137 million light-sensitive receptor cells. Of these, 130 million are rod-shaped and control black-and-white vision and the rest are cone-shaped and control color vision. Messages are passed from the eye through the optic nerve to the brain and back again at a speed of about 300 miles per hour. Each transaction takes about 0.002 second.
Still, for all that, an ear has no need to be jealous of the eye. For the ear itself is a wonder of creation. The outer ear, which is attached to the side of the head, is simply a sound-gathering trumpet. An inch-long canal leads to the inner ear. The canal contains numerous hairs and four thousand wax glands that trap dust and other foreign matter. Hearing starts with the eardrum, which picks up sound from the airwaves. It can pick up a whisper, which will move the drum slightly—some think only the billionth of centimeter. On the other side of the eardrum are three little bones that work in harmony to amplify the movements of the drum twenty-two times. The amplified sounds are passed on to the inner ear. There the sound is transmitted to the cochlea, which contains thousands of nerve cells that look like hair. Each one is tuned to one vibration that it identifies, waving in a watery fluid. This waving, in turn, generates a minute electrical charge that is fed through the auditory nerve to the brain. This nerve contains over thirty thousand circuits. The ear not only enables us to hear. It also contains semicircular canals that control the balance of the body.
How foolish it would be for the ear to say, “Just take me off of the body. If I can’t be the eye then I want to be rid of the rest of the body.”
Yet, this is how the church in Corinth was acting especially when it came to tongues, which speaking or interpreting languages.
If I can’t speak a different language, then I’m just going to sit here and do nothing.
If I can’t interpret a language than I’m not going to teach that other class.
This whole thing to Paul was childish and ludicrous.
The needed diversity of its members
1 Cor 12:17
If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling?
I love the humour Paul puts in here!
A whole eye!?
Even Mike Wazowski needs a green body, ears, arms, hands, legs, and feet
A whole ear!?
1 Cor 12:18
But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him.
God set!
Pleased Him!
to desire v. — to feel or have a desire for; want strongly
This is in context of beauty and finesse
Holly - snowmen around Christmas
Artist painting a picture of a sunset at the end of scenic dirt path
God sets every part of our body where it pleased Him
1 Cor 12:19-20
And if they were all one member, where were the body? But now are they many members, yet but one body.
The Fellowship of the Body’s Members
The Fellowship of the Body’s Members
The members are to be complimentary
1 Cor 12:21-22
And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary:
Dust in the eye - hands to help wipe it away
Head sees that one has stepped out into the path of an oncoming car - feet lets get back on the footpath
The whole body rejoices in the feet in that situation!
The members are to esteem one another
1 Cor 12:22
Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary:
James 3:5
Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!
But what strength it controls! And what an intricate member it is! It is really a mucus membrane, surrounded by a complex battery of muscles and nerves, complete with taste buds designed to perform complex chemical actions. It assists in mastication, swallowing, and speech. It is able to adopt a great variety of shapes so that an astonishing battery of sounds can be articulated. Small! But mighty. A tongue can soothe a child to sleep or mobilize men by the million to march. It can whisper sweet nothings in a dear one’s ear or pour out vitriolic gossip, hate, and spite. It’s not much to look at. Indeed, it is considered an insult in most places to poke it out at someone.
D.L. Moody - illiterate, pushy, and unpolished - yet, men of great learning, wealth, and power came to hear him preach
1 Cor 12:23-24
And those members of the body, which we think to be less honourable, upon these we bestow more abundant honour; and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness. For our comely parts have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to that part which lacked:
Comely parts - the parts of our bodies that would be displayed - hands & face
Our uncomely parts are those that we cover - those parts that we cover, with proper clothing, can add grace and form to the body as a whole
These parts may not even be seen because of the covering of the skin, internal organs - often called vital organs
One can survive without a hand, an arm, and even a leg, but one cannot live without a heart, stomach, or liver
TEMPERED THE BODY TOGETHER
Making chilli - Holly add too much crushed red pepper
The members are to work in unison
1 Cor 12:25-26
That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it.
Fall off of a ladder - break leg - the whole body enters into the pain
Beautiful waterfall - the hands want to clap, the tears dwell up, the voice lifts up it’s praise in how wondrous God’s creation is
Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.
YE - EMPHATIC, singular, and yet plural
Church in Corinth, speaking to all and yet each individual member. Those that saved, baptised, and have been added to the local church are part of that local body of Christ, and each one has a particular place in that church. Each and every one is valuable to Christ!